Training since the age of four and 30,000 flashcards with tricky words: Spelling Bee winner's father reveals secrets of daughter's success

The father of the newly-crowned National Spelling Bee champion has revealed the keys to her success: 30,000 flashcards with the trickiest words and training since the age of four.

Snigdha Nandipati beat eight other finalists on Thursday evening to take home the title and $40,000 in prize and scholarship money the 14-year-old hopes to use for college.

Now her father Krishnarao has revealed that he was instrumental in her success, reading out words from billboards during the drive to school for her to spell when she was in kindergarten.

Scroll down for video

Lifetime in training: Snigdha Nandipati, seen hugging her brother, won the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Her father Krishnarau, pictured, has revealed she has been frantically spelling since the age of four

Krishnarao, a software consultant from San Diego, also created a computer program that took information from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the Los Angeles Timesreported.

The program created PDF flashcards for some of the trickiest words, so he printed around 30,000 to help his daughter prepare for her toughest competition yet.

He encouraged her to learn Latin, adding it would be useful if she wanted to go into the medical field. It turns out that she does - and hopes to become a neurosurgeon.

'My wife was saying, "Oh, if you want to go to into the medical field, maybe the medical field is easier than the spelling bee",' Krishnarao told the Times.

Calm and collected throughout the competition, the 14-year-old spelled 'guetapens', a French-derived word that means ambush, snare or trap, to win the 85th Scripps National Spelling Bee.

After she spelled the word, she looked from side to side, as if unsure her accomplishment was real, and, oddly, she was not immediately announced as the winner.

Applause built slowly, and a few pieces of confetti trickled out before showering her. Then her 10-year-old brother ran on stage and embraced her, and she beamed.

The Top: She beat out eight other finalists in the nerve-wracking, brain-busting competition

Patient: Snigdha Nandipati, 14, heard a few words she didn't know during the National Spelling Bee, but never when she stepped to the microphone

'I knew it. I'd seen it before,' Nandipati said of the winning word. 'I just wanted to ask everything I could before I started spelling.'

A coin collector and Sherlock Holmes fan, Nandipati plays violin and is fluent in Telugu, a language spoken in southeastern India.

Nandipati became the fifth consecutive Indian-American winner and 10th in the last 14 years, a run that began in 1999 when Nupur Lala won and was later featured in the documentary ‘Spellbound.’

Wearing a white polo shirt with a gold necklace peeking out of the collar, the bespectacled teen never showed much emotion while spelling, working her way meticulously through each word.

Only a few of the words given to other spellers were unfamiliar to her, she said.

Her brother and parents joined her onstage after the victory, along with her maternal grandparents, who traveled from Hyderabad, India, to watch her. At one point as she held the trophy aloft, her brother, Sujan, pushed the corners of her mouth apart to broaden her smile.

Proud: After she spelled the winning word, she was not immediately announced as the winner. She only realized her accomplishment after her 10-year-old brother embraced her

Friendly: Stuti Mishra of West Melbourne, Fla., finished second. Nandipanti, left, and Mishra, right, frequently high-fived each other during the marathon competition

In the run-up to the Bee, Nandipanti studied 6 to 10 hours a day on weekdays and 10-12 hours on weekends - a regimen that she'll need to maintain to get through medical school, her father said.

SENSATIONAL SPELLING

Contestants in the Bee were tasked with spelling these tongue-twisters:

'Guetapens'

A French-derived word that means ambush or trap

'Vetiver'

A fragrant extract obtained from Indian grass

'Schwarmerei'

Excessive, unbridled enthusiasm

'Ingluvies'

The crop or craw of birds

While many spellers pretend to write words with their fingers, the 14-year-old Mishra had an unusual routine - she mimed typing them on a keyboard.

Nandipanti and Mishra frequently high-fived each other after spelling words correctly during the marathon competition.

Coming in third for the second consecutive year was Arvind Mahankali of Bayside Hills, N.Y.

At 12, the seventh-grader was the youngest of the nine finalists. He has one more year of eligibility remaining, and he pledged to return.

'I got eliminated both times by German words,' Mahankali said. 'I know what I have to study.'

Nandipati's prize haul includes $30,000 in cash, a trophy, a $2,500 savings bond, a $5,000 scholarship, $2,600 in reference works from the Encyclopedia Britannica and an online language course.

The week began with 278 spellers, including the youngest in the history of the competition - 6-year-old Lori Anne Madison of Lake Ridge, Virginia.

The field was cut to 50 semifinalists after a computer test and two preliminary rounds, and Lori Anne was two misspelled words away from a semifinal berth. The tiny prodigy said she'd be back next year.

Out: Lori Anne Madison, 6, of Woodbridge, Va., the youngest contestant ever to compete in the Bee, was eliminated early on

Champ: Nandipati's prize haul includes $30,000 in cash, a trophy, a $2,500 savings bond, a $5,000 scholarship, $2,600 in reference works from the Encyclopedia Britannica and an online language course

The highest-placing international speller was Gifton Wright of Spanish Town, Jamaica, who tied for fourth. This week, Scripps announced tentative plans for a world spelling bee with teams of spellers from dozens of countries. Once that gets off the ground, the National Spelling Bee would be closed to international participants.

Also tied for fourth were Nicholas Rushlow of Pickerington, Ohio, and Lena Greenberg of Philadelphia. The excitable Greenberg, a crowd favorite who ran delightedly back to her chair after each correct word, pressed her hands to her face and exclaimed, ‘Oh! Oh!’ when she was eliminated.

Rushlow was making his fifth and final appearance in the bee, and this was his best showing. He got three words he didn't know - one in the semifinals and two in the finals - and managed to spell two of them correctly before the third one, ‘vetiver,’ tripped him up.

While he was satisfied with his performance, he's sad that his run is over. ‘I'm a has-been now,’ Rushlow said.